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About The IAEE

The International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) is a non-profit organization that includes representation from the world's national earthquake engineering societies, each national society having a Delegate to the IAEE. The IAEE is responsible for selecting the venue and local organizing society for each of the World Conferences on Earthquake Engineering. It compiles and updates Regulations for Seismic Design: A World List, as well as other issue publications as necessary. Its flagship periodical, the journal titled Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, has been a leading publication in the field since 1972. The IAEE's fundamental goal is to help improve worldwide seismic safety.

President's Message - Serving as "Connection"

Colleagues, Affiliate Members and Friends of IAEE,

On September 14, 2022, I assumed the position of the sixteenth President of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) from Professor Masayoshi Nakashima. Under the leadership of Professor Nakashima, IAEE made very significant achievements including establishment of the CSI/IAEE Masters Series consisting of publication of monographs written by legendary figures in earthquake engineering, two of which have already been published and distributed at the 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (17WCEE), and meetings with and greeting masters during the world conferences.

The 17WCEE was postponed because of Covid-19 pandemic and was conducted in a hybrid form at Tokyo, Japan with great success in 2021. Now we are looking forward to a great 18th World Conference (18WCEE) in Milan, Italy in 2024 and we look forward to a record participation in it by earthquake engineering professionals from all over the world. Four more CSI/IAEE Read the Masters monographs are in preparation and will be distributed at 18WCEE with corresponding Meet the Masters and Greet the Masters events.

I want to sincerely thank all officers, directors, and staff of IAEE and all 60 national delegates representing their nations and people at IAEE. During its 60 years of existence, IAEE has made a significant positive impact on the state of earthquake engineering worldwide and has brought together the knowledge, talent, and expertise of earthquake engineers worldwide to enable all of us to reduce to the extent that we all can, the disastrous effects of earthquakes worldwide on life and well-being of our fellow human beings. With your help and active participation, we will continue that path and make even more significant contributions to reduction of seismic risk worldwide. I am honored to have been elected to this prestigious position, and I look forward to working with all of you to move IAEE forward along its glorious path.

- Farzad Naeim, President


March, 2023

President's Message by Immediate Past President, M. Nakashima

Colleagues, Affiliate Members and Friends of IAEE,

On June 18, 2018, I assumed the position of the fifteenth President of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE). I feel much honored to have been elected to this prestigious position, and shall work to my best to promote the sustainable development of IAEE. The utmost mission of IAEE is to provide an international forum in which people with various kinds of expertise convene and discuss issues in the mitigation of earthquake-related disasters. Traditionally, IAEE activities have been energized by engineering practitioners and researchers (civil, structural, mechanical, and geotechnical) and earth scientists (geologists, geophysicists, seismologists). In recent years, the involvement of architects, urban planners, public officials, and social scientists have increased, creating a more multidisciplinary IAEE.

IAEE was founded in 1963. Since that time, IAEE has continued to grow, and as of today, a total of 59 countries and regions are registered in IAEE. Once every four years, IAEE organizes the World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (WCEE) at various cities around the world. The last one (the Sixteenth WCEE, called 16WCEE) was held at Santiago, Chile, on January 2017, where 3,000 people registered for the conference. 15WCEE, which was organized four year before 16WCEE, was held at Lisbon, Portugal, on September 2012, where 2,300 people registered. For nearly 60 years, WCEE has been one of the largest technical/professional gatherings and continues to serve as "Connection" among the stakeholders in relevant disciplines as well as people with diverse backgrounds in culture, religion, and social structure.

Our globe is experiencing an explosive increase in population combined with rapid development and urbanization due to growing economic activities. We now face the ultimate question of how to ensure the sustainable development of the human sphere, in which the threat of earthquake disasters is one of the most critical problems to resolve on a global scale. We shall not overlook the reality that the densification of our cities and towns, which occurs as a result of such development and urbanization, makes our society more and more vulnerable against earthquake disasters. To overcome this vulnerability, we must invent novel solutions, and to this end, expend a more interdisciplinary effort, in which new disciplines are forged through collective, integral efforts among diverse genres. It is also notable that we shall further a transdisciplinary attitude, in which linkage with the real world is appreciated, so that solutions reach the society in a most effective and timely manner. IAEE wishes to serve as "Connection" among people and genres to make our efforts more interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary.

Human factors are naturally influential in the understanding and promotion of efforts that seek for the mitigation of earthquake-related disasters. Learning from the past and reflecting it to the present and future are important. IAEE regards it as its duty to ensure "Connection" among the past, present, and future and to secure the transfer of knowledge across generations. IAEE is currently preparing for a new initiative that can assist such efforts, and will present it soon in detail.

On behalf of the family of national organizations that comprise IAEE, I greet you with respect and look forward to working with you.

- Masayoshi Nakashima, President


December, 2018

Welcome from the Secretary General

The International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) was established in February 1963 with its Central Office in Tokyo. The IAEE aims to promote international cooperation among scientists and engineers in the field of earthquake engineering through interchange of knowledge, ideas, and results of research and practical experience.

The aim has been achieved mainly by holding the World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (WCEE) every four years. The most recent 15th WCEE was held in Lisbon, Portugal in 2012. The 15th WCEE attracted more than 3,000 participants from all over the world. And the 16th WCEE will be held in Santiago, Chile, in January, 2017.

I believe that this web site will increase visibility and recognition of the IAEE within the global engineering and scientific communities as well as within non-technical communities.

- Koichi Kusunoki, Secretary General, IAEE

September, 2014

About Ruaumoko, the symbol of the IAEE

The Maori god of earthquakes and volcanoes, Ruaumoko, is the symbol of the IAEE. When the Third World Conference on Earthquake Engineering was held in New Zealand in 1965, Karl Steinbrugge, the president of IAEE then, visited the national museum, Te Papa, in Wellington, and saw a wood carving of Ruaumoko. He sought out Chief Maori Carver Charles Tuarau, and had a replica made, which Steinbrugge gave to Professor Robert Park of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, to keep on behalf of the IAEE. The carving was then taken from its home at the University to each World Conference of Earthquake Engineering and formally presented at the conference opening. That statue went missing in Beijing in 2008, and subsequently a replacement was carved by Master Carver Clive Fugill in 2009.


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International Association for Earthquake Engineering
last updated 04.12.2019